What If I Told You
by The Last Letter
Summary: Eleven months after Danny's lab accident, he decides to confess the truth of his dual identities to his parents - but not without a fearful crisis beforehand.


_What if I told you_

_Who I really was _

_What if I let you in on my charade?_

Danny Fenton knitted his fingers together and took a deep breath. He looked up at his expectant parents.

Maddie was smiling and trying to look encouraging, but she couldn't disguise the worry in her eyes. Though she had always tried to make herself open and available to her children at all times, never before had one of them requested a meeting. She knew that Danny had been troubled as of late – his grades, which were at best average, were slipping; he wasn't sleeping; he was coming home with bruises; and he was out all hours of the night. Maddie had been concerned, but whenever she had lobbed vague questions at her son, he'd avoided answering her, giving her a reply that would placate her until later in the day when she'd realize that he really hadn't answered her after all.

Jack was equally as concerned as his wife, but he had no idea how to show it. There was a joke trembling on his lips, but he was using all of his willpower to pull it back. Maddie was the nurturer, the comforter, the capable one. Jack had always been used as comedic reflief; a way to heal an awkward situation. But this situation wasn't awkward, it was scary. Many nights had Jack spent awake, agonizing over the erratic behaviour of his only son. Jack had lost best friends, in high school, to the all-consuming lust of drugs and, on some level, he believed it was stealing his son as well. He had wanted to act upon it, send Danny to a counselor, but Maddie hadn't thought that drugs were the case, and Jack had trusted her mothering instinct.

Danny didn't know how to say what was weighing heavily on his mind. Since he'd asked his parents that morning to sit down after school, he'd been fretting over how to phrase it properly – how to drop the proverbial bomb that had already blown his life apart, had torn apart aspects of his sister's and his friend's lives, and was about to ram its way through his unsuspecting parents existence. He had wanted to back out several times throughout the day – planning on not coming home and hiding out at Sam's – but she and Tucker, with some supportive texts from Jazz, had convinced him that he had to go through with it. Hiding the secret of being Phantom from his parents was beginning to take more of a toll than what it was worth.

He just didn't want to hurt them.

They were ghost hunters by trade. Danny hadn't held it against them as they had threatened, shot at, and injured his ghostly alter ego repeatedly. Though their first attempts to capture/kill Phantom had wounded Danny emotionally, he'd come to terms with the fact that if he wasn't going to tell them, then he would have to learn how to dodge them. So, he'd learned to dodge.

Danny cringed, picturing his mother's face when she realized that she'd intentionally made her baby bleed.

"I love you guys," Danny blurted.

"Oh, honey, we love you too," Maddie assured him, reaching over and squeezing Jack's hand. "Now, please, tell us what's wrong."

_What if I told you_

_What was really going on_

_No more masks and no more parts to play_

It had been a mere eleven months since Danny Fenton – mediocre student with a 'secret' crush on his best female friend - had become Danny Phantom, the ghostly protector and number one enemy of Amity Park. Sometimes, it was hard for Danny to remember a time when he hadn't had a ghostly persona, when he hadn't gotten into fatal fights daily (the small skirmishes with Dash that inevitably ended with Danny in a locker or garbage can didn't count since there was never a chance of death when he was around Dash, no matter how much it often felt that way).

Being Phantom was a true headache. Danny found himself struggling day to day just to survive through the persistent exhaustion and never-ending list of injuries that plagued his body. When he had made the decision to become a hero, to use the supernatural abilities he had been given with for good, he really hadn't known what he was dedicating himself to. Being Phantom wasn't about screwing around; it wasn't about getting into a fight here and there and being bathed in fame and glory for minimal effort.

Being Phantom was much more work than Danny could have anticipated. Being Phantom meant that whenever his ghost sense went off, whenever his sensitive hearing picked up a scream or a cry for help, he had to go. And having to go meant that he had to lie to his parents or that he had to sneak out of his window and get grounded when he returned; he had missed countless family dinners, appointments, and other promised adventures so that he could get pounded into a pulp instead of another innocent civilian whose human body couldn't take the beating that Phantom's could.

Since becoming Phantom, Danny had given up a lot of his old life; his teenage life. He no longer had time to blow off his homework, as he'd done in the past, let alone actually _do_ it. He no longer had time to loiter down in the shop with his mother, helping her toy with a new invention, feeling a rush of pride when he was actually helpful. He didn't sit in front of the T.V. with his father, never missing a football game that featured Jack's favourite team, though Danny still wasn't sure he knew how football worked. And Jazz, well, for the longest time, Danny barely spoke to his sister. When she'd inadvertently discovered his secret, she'd recruited herself to Team Phantom (as Sam and Tucker had named the ghost hunting trio that Danny, with his abilities, headed) and had continually put herself in danger just so she could see with her own eyes that Danny was going to able to drag himself home at night.

Danny had never considered telling another living soul about Phantom. He had fully intended to live out his days in secret (though the lying made him physically sick and he couldn't tell if his life was going up or down or had just flat out died on him) and let Phantom turn into a legend when he either died in a fight or of old age (except the longer he was Phantom, the less likely the old age option became). And Danny had never anticipated on revealing himself to his parents. He could think of several ways that situation would play itself out, and being accepted by his ghost hunter parents was not promising in most of those cases.

But as he began to struggle more and more through his daily life, the more his friends' and sister's pressing question of "Why don't you tell them?" seemed to have less of a 'never' answer and more of a 'I-should-consider-it' answer.

Danny had always been scared of how much he had to lose once he told his parents the truth. But he'd let those who knew the truth about him pressure him into revealing himself to his parents, which is what lead him to the living room today, about to spill his guts to his parents.

Unbidden, the worst of scenarios rose into Danny's mind.

_There's so much I want to say_

_But I'm so scared to give away_

_Every little secret that I hide behind_

_Would you see me differently?_

_And would that be such a bad thing_

_I wonder what it would be like_

_If I told you_

Whenever Danny had nightmares, it was always about the same thing: his parents finding out the truth about him and reacting in the most negative way possible.

He could picture - with disturbing clarity - what would happen the moment after he told them. He could picture Maddie's slack-jawed face, deep eyes beginning to well with tears and denial. Danny could picture how she would reach for him, clearly thinking _'but that's my baby'_ before reigning herself in and reminding herself that no, that was _not_ her baby; this was some freak of nature – a strange marriage of ghost and human that nature had never intended to be real, that _no one_ had ever intended to be real. He could also picture how Jack would look – cheeks red and eyes angry, kicking himself over how he had not noticed that there was a damn ghost living in his own damn house. Both of his parents would, undoubtedly, be kicking themselves over their own ignorance and running over, in their minds, how many signs that had missed.

Danny knew that the next step would be to drag him down into their lab. Sometimes, he tried to imagine himself fight back against his parents, struggling for his own freedom, but he could never will himself to hurt his parents, even knowing that they were about to drag him into a hell of their own making; knowing that they were planning on experimenting on him before finally killing him. No, if they decided to take him to the lab for experimentation, Danny knew that he would go quietly and hope that it was over quickly.

Once they got him down in the lab, Danny knew that they would strap him down to a steel table. He could practically feel the cold metal against his back and feel the weight of the cuffs around his wrists, ankles, and middle. He could feel his own terror as they put on masks and surgical uniforms, not wanting to spoil their own clothes with the unique mixture of blood and ectoplasm that they would soon discover ran through Danny's veins.

Once their new outfits were in place, they would break out the surgical devices and charts. Maddie would painstakingly write down every observation that there was to be made, gently instructing Jack on the physical steps that would need to be taken next to make sure that they didn't miss out on learning anything about the strange creature that they had so unflinchingly strapped to their table.

It's when Danny gets to the part where his own father is about to cut his skin that he inevitably tears himself from the dream (whether it be a nightmare or terrifying day-time musings) and brings himself into reality, panting from the fear that the thought inspired.

Those images had played a major part in keeping Danny quiet. He was scared that the lab would be his final destination when he finally told his parents. As he stared at them now, his sacred truth rising into the back of his throat, Danny had to wonder if that wouldn't be where he ended up after all.

_What if I told you_

_That's its just a front_

_To hide the insecurities I have_

On his better days, Danny didn't like to picture the lab as where he'll end up once Maddie and Jack know the truth about his dual identities. On his better days, Danny liked to believe that they'll simply toss him out of the house, leaving him to fend for his own because they certainly don't have a son that's also part ghost and they certainly don't have a son named Danny. They'd say, "No thank you, we'll stick to the perfect daughter that would never dream of giving us any grief other than being overprotective of her own parents", which was completely understandable considering what her parents did for a living.

Danny could see how Jack and Maddie would look in this particular daydream scenario. He could picture the way that with every word he speaks, the more detached they grow from him. He could imagine how, by the time he'd finished, their eyes would be utterly dead as they stare blankly in his general direction. He knew that they'd look at one another, acknowledge their failure together, and then simultaneously decide to move on from the disappointment that was their youngest child.

They'd tell him that he has an hour to pack his things and say goodbye to Jazz. They'd tell him that he's welcome on Jazz's birthday, but that he shouldn't come back for Christmas nor any other holiday. They'll tell him that they hope he won't contact them (and they certainly won't be contacting him) but that they wish him well. They would also add that, though they're giving him the chance to run now, they won't give him that particular opportunity again; if he ever fell into the crosshairs of their weapons, they would not hesitate to take him down because he is, after all, ghostly scum, despite the fact that their blood runs through his veins.

Once they're done telling him this, Danny would run upstairs and hurriedly throw what he needs into a bag and cross over to Jazz's room. He'd explain to her what had occurred downstairs while she had been studying for her test the next morning, which she would have aced even without the studying. Jazz would hug him and cry, tell him that she was sorry that she'd convinced him to do it and he would have to lie (again) and tell her that he'd wanted to do it; that he'd thought that it was time and that she shouldn't blame herself at all.

Then he would leave. Sam had a thousand empty rooms that her parents hardly ever considered. She would be able to offer him a nice little set-up (like she had in the past when he had confessed the fear of this scenario to his understanding friends). If he was ever discovered at Sam's, Tucker had offered to help him out and stash him in the basement, as the Foley's had no extra room but a tiny little cupboard under the basement stairs.

Danny clenched his hands tighter together and looked at his concerned parents, sitting next to one another on the couch, holding hands, and wondered if this was what they would do. The truth was sitting on his tongue, waiting to be set free.

_What if I told you_

_That I'm not as strong_

_As I like to make believe I am_

On Danny's best days, on the very rare occasions when no troubles plagued him and his bruises seemed like a far-away reality – part of someone else's life, really – he would think of telling about his parents and would hatch a wonderful outcome.

He would imagine their acceptance.

He could practically feel the words rolling off his tongue, explain the past eleven months that had been full of erratic behaviour, dangerous stunts, and worrisome, long nights. He could even place expressions of relief on their worried parents.

_"Thank God he's only a ghost_,_" Jack would tell Maddie, "it could have been so much worse!"_

_ "My baby!" Maddie would coo. "You've been through so much."_

Danny could feel the weight of their arms around him, something that had been foreign as of late. He hadn't had time to hug his parents individually, let alone get caught up in the middle of embrace, something that had practically been a staple of his early years. A smile would bloom on his face at the thought of how comforting that hug would be and how he would be able to feel the love from his parents cascading onto him from that embrace.

He liked to imagine Jazz coming down the stairs as they're all smiling and laughing over how silly Danny had been to keep such a momentous thing from him, with a few scolding comments from Maddie about how he should have come to them right away, and Jazz would immediately ask what was going on. Once she was told, Jazz would exclaim about how happy she was that it had all worked out because, well, hadn't she told him that was exactly what would happen?

Danny liked to picture his parents' shocked faces once they discovered that Jazz knew – their lovely little daughter who came to them with all problems, especially when she thought her little brother was in danger – and never bothered to tell them. Sometimes, Danny imagines that Jazz is sat down on the couch and lectured thoroughly by both parents (something that had never happened to the basic epitome of perfection before) over how she should have come to them right away when she found out why Danny had been suffering so much.

Danny knew with certainty that Jazz's facial expressions through that particular talk would be absolutely priceless and desperately wished that they would become a reality, though he knew that it wouldn't. There was a reason that this imagining was left for only the best days – it was the least likely to happen.

But, sitting across from his parents, with the truth about to break free from his trembling lips, Danny suddenly starts to _pray_. His parents have always been so loving; it wouldn't be so far-fetched to imagine that they would accept him, would it?

_There's so much I want to say_

_But I'm so scared to give away_

_Every little secret that I hide behind_

_Would you see me differently?_

_And would that be such a bad thing_

_I wonder what it would be like_

_If I told you_

_Oh if I told you_

"Danny," Maddie prompted, anxious over her son's extended silence, "please, tell us."

"You know we're here for you through anything," Jack added as extra insurance, "but we can't help if you don't tell us, son."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "It's difficult to explain," he finally said, "and I'm so scared that you won't react the right way. I'm so scared you'll give up on me," he said as a whisper.

And with that, everything came spilling forth. From that first day in the lab, when he, Sam, and Tucker had decided to fool around with the ghost portal in an effort to fix it and it had life-altering consequences for Danny to the present moment. Danny explained how much the transformation hurt; how he had eventually gone through and discovered every power he possessed. He told his parents how he had come to the decision to be Danny Phantom and detailed why he had stuck to his duty, even through all the hardships that had appeared over the past eleven months. He forced down his tears when he got to the part of how the lying hurt him and how he hadn't wanted to deceive them. The overwhelming fear had been because they were ghost hunters, there was a fully-equipped lab down in the basement, and he'd heard, on several occasions, how they would like to cut into Phantom just to see what made the odd ghost boy tick.

Before Danny knew it, before Danny was ready, he had reached the end of his tale. There was nothing left for him to explain; there was no longer a detail that his previously oblivious parents didn't know. He swallowed hard and waited for them to say something.

"How did we not know," Maddie gasped, her hand glued to her lips in shameful shock. "I'm his mother," she said directly Jack, staring into her husband's eyes, "how did I not see?"

Jack shook his head at his wife. "None of us saw what we should have – no one but Jazz."

Maddie looked back at Danny, eyes licking over her raven-haired son, trying to place the image of the deadly fighter, Phantom, over her innocent (well, not so much anymore) teenaged son.

"Show me?" She implored.

Danny's eyes widened. Show them? He had never imagined that they would want to _see_. Even on his best days, Danny had still held onto the notion that, even if they accepted it, they would never want to fully know about what he was. They would want to hide the truth in the back of their minds, to be forgotten, and go on pretending they had the perfect family.

Still, Danny could not deny his mother's request. Apprehension filling him, Danny switched forms, not even bothering to stand from the chair, or yelp his infamous battle cry of "going ghost". The familiar blue rings swept across his body, leaving a sensation of cold in their wake as his body temperature dropped to that closer to a typical ghost.

"So?" Danny demanded, after a long minute of silence from both Jack and Maddie as they stared at Phantom sitting so casually in their living room, using their son's voice (how did they not notice that detail before? Not only did he speak like Danny, but Phantom was literally the negative of Danny!).

With a single glance at Jack, Maddie confirmed that they were both thinking the exact same thing.

"Honey," she said moving closer to him, placing a hand on his chilled arms. "Your father and I believe you and love you."

Danny could feel the oncoming 'but'.

"But …"

He hated being right in that moment.

"But we want to run a few tests."

His nightmare had come true.

"And make sure that you're not possessed. This is a lot for us to take in, you have to understand, and it's going to take some time before we fully know what's going on, and are comfortable with it."

"What happens in the meantime?" Danny squeaked.

"In the meantime," Jack rumbled, "We're a family, just like we've always been."

_There's so much I want to say_

_But I'm so scared to give away_

_Every little secret that I hide behind_

_Oh would you see me differently?_

_And would that be .such...a bad thing_

_I wonder what it would be like_

_If I told you_

In the two months that had followed, Danny had agreed to every non-invasive and minimally invasive procedures his parents had asked of him. He knew that he didn't have to – the duo had made that overly clear – but he wanted to. Danny still felt the need to prove to his parents that he was not a parasite possessing their child; he was both Fenton and Phantom and he never wanted to separate the two.

Luckily for him, Maddie and Jack not only seemed to understand this wish, but completely agreed with it. Each of them not only thought it dangerous for their son to have his alter ego removed (you wouldn't remove a limb and Phantom was an extension of Danny – or so they classified him) but thought it extremely beneficial to ghost hunting to have Danny on their side.

It had become a regular occurrence for the family to go ghost hunting together, even convincing Jazz to hide her face in one of Maddie's outfits and head out to face a ghost. It was an extremely eccentric way to do family bonding, but the Fenton's had never done anything normally. Besides, Danny knew that by hunting his family, it would help his mother and father accept his ghostly form – though they were doing surprisingly well considering they had only known for two months and that Danny had anticipated becoming a lab rat.

Telling them had been scary – Danny couldn't deny that fact. But he also couldn't deny how much better he had felt having it out in the open. Even in the blank space where he said his last word and his parents had revealed their reactions, he'd felt better. There would be no more lying, no more secrets in the Fenton family (their son was half-ghost; it couldn't get any worse than that so why not share?), and no more stitching himself up in his own room after a nasty fight when he couldn't bear to wake up Jazz or Sam to give him medical attention.

It was still an odd sensation to have his ghost sense go off in front of his family and transform into Phantom before their eyes. It was even stranger still to have them pack up their guns and follow him, not to hunt him but to help him. And even though telling his parents had brought him many sleepless nights, anxious hours, and countless nightmares, having them know made him wish he'd told them earlier.

He shouldn't have doubted them, just as they had never doubted him.

_What if I told you_

_What if I told you_

_What would it be like_

_What would it be like_

_If I told you_

_Oh what if I told you_

_Oh I wonder what it would be like_

_If I told you_

**The song is **_**What If I Told You **_**by **_**Jason Walker**_**. I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky. I hope you enjoyed!**

**~TLL~**


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